Giselle to Rael: ‘I’m not your girl’
The Ottawa Citizen (Canada), Jan. 17, 2003
http://canada.com/
Mark Bourrie, The Ottawa Citizen
CREDIT: Matt Campbell, The Associated Press’, HAUTO, VAUTO, SNAPX, ‘5’)” onMouseOut=”nd()”>Gisele Bundchen has turned down a multi-million-dollar offer to be the “It” girl for Clonaid, the company that claims to have produced the world’s first cloned baby.
Clonaid is an offshoot of the Raelians, a Quebec-based sect that operates a UFO landing ground in the Eastern Townships and holds that all human beings are descended from cloned aliens who visited Earth 25,000 years ago.
“I don’t want anything to do with them,” the 22-year-old Brazilian supermodel told London’s Sun tabloid.
“And I certainly don’t want anyone to clone me.”
Sources told the Sun that the Raelians “wanted the most beautiful woman in the world as their symbol,” says a source. “But there’s no way Gisele would be the face, or faces, of Clonaid.”
Rolling Stone magazine labels Bundchen “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.”
She’s also been named Model of the Year by VH1 and Vogue. An Elite Modelling Agency scout spotted the 5-foot 11-inch supermodel at age 14 when she was eating a Big Mac at a Sao Paulo McDonald’s with her friends.
The model, who earns $10,000 U.S. an hour, has herself become a cult figure in her home country and in Germany.
Bundchen and Gangs of New York actor Leonardo DiCaprio recently split up and she is now dating actor Rodrigo Santoro. She made news last fall when she was targeted by anti-fur campaigners at a lingerie show that was carried live on a U.S. network.
Clonaid would not comment on the model’s claim.
Yesterday, newspapers in both countries denounced the alleged Clonaid offer, saying the Raelians are trying to cash in on Bundchen’s fame.
In Brazil, the media were already trying to track down a woman in Rio de Janeiro who is allegedly carrying a clone produced by Clonaid.
On Boxing Day, Clonaid announced the birth of a baby girl that, the company says, is a clone of its 31-year-old mother. It claimed a second cloned baby was born to a lesbian couple in Europe earlier this month.
Scientists scoff at the claims. Clonaid has been ordered by a U.S. court to reveal the whereabouts of baby Eve and her mother. Clonaid has refused to allow DNA testing to confirm its claim.
Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, who heads Clonaid, says she will not give out the real name of “Baby Eve” or her mother.
She said yesterday she is confident tests will be performed on one of the five clones that Clonaid claims are due to be born by Feb. 5.
On its Web site, Clonaid offers “man’s ultimate dream of eternal life, which past religions only promised will occur after death in a mythical paradise, becomes a scientific reality.”